Information Processing Method, Information Processing System, And Server

• US 20090234840A1
• Filed: 09/08/2006
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Chatani, Masayuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A community establishing site is connected to an information terminal via a network. When the user enters a search keyword into the information terminal, an entered-information acquiring unit acquires the search keyword through a web server, and registers it together with user information in a user information master. A community establishing unit extracts users who have entered the same search keyword, from the plurality of users registered in the user information master, and records them in a community information master, thereby establishing a community. An information extracting unit transmits the user information of other users who belong to the same community to the information terminal through the web server.

Claims

1. An information processing method comprising:

acquiring data through a network by a server, the data having been entered into an information terminal by a user;

storing a plurality of pieces of the data entered by a plurality of users;

establishing, by extracting a plurality of pieces of data having relevance between a plurality of different users from the stored pieces of data, a community for the users that have entered the extracted pieces of data; and

presenting information concerning the community to the user.

2. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the presenting to the user includes transmitting information concerning a communicating mean which communicates between a plurality of users who belong to the community.

3. An information processing system, comprising:

an information terminal into which a user enters data; and

a server which provides information to the information terminal through a network, the server including;

a data acquiring unit which acquires the data entered into the information terminal;

a data storage unit which stores pieces of the data acquired by the data acquiring unit;

a community establishing unit which establishes, by extracting a plurality of pieces of data having relevance between a plurality of different users from the pieces of data stored in the data storage unit, a community for the users who have entered the extracted pieces of data; and

a transmitting unit which transmits information concerning the community established by the community establishing unit to the information terminal.

4. The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein

the server further includes a user information storage unit which stores information concerning the user as user information,

the data storage unit stores the data so as to associate the data with the user information of the user who has entered the data, and

the transmitting unit transmits the user information of other user who belongs to the community to the information terminal operated by each user who belongs to the community.

5. The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein

the data acquiring unit acquires data which is entered in a webpage displayed on the information terminal by the user, as the data.

6. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the data stored in the data storage unit is updated every time an associated user stored enters new data.

7. The information processing system according to claim 6, wherein

the community establishing unit establishes a new community concerning the new data every time the data stored in the data storage unit is updated, and deletes a user who has entered the new data from the community to which the user belongs before the entering.

8. The information processing system according to claim 6, wherein

the data storage unit stores the data so as to associate the data with a entry time at which the data entered, and

when the data stored in the data storage unit is not updated for a predetermined time after the entry time, the community establishing unit deletes a corresponding user from the community to which the user previously belongs.

9. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits data for displaying a list of e-mail addresses of other users who belong to the community to the information terminal.

10. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits data for displaying an electronic bulletin board which allows only the users who belong to the community to participate therein to the information terminal.

11. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the transmitting unit transmits data for displaying data entered into respective information terminals by other users who belong to the community to the information terminal.

12. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the data acquiring unit monitors connection status which indicates whether the information terminal is being connected to a network, and

the transmitting unit transmits data for displaying the current connection status of other user who belongs to the community to the information terminal.

13. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the data acquiring unit acquires a search keyword entered by the user in a webpage which provides a search service, as the data,

the community establishing unit establishes a community for users who have entered a same search keyword, of the search keywords stored in the data storage unit, and

the transmitting unit transmits the user information of other user who belongs to the community for the users who have entered the same search keyword to the information terminal.

14. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the data acquiring unit acquires a search keyword entered by the user in a webpage which provides a search service, as the data,

the community establishing unit establishes a plurality of communities based on the type of the relevance when a plurality of pieces of data is extracted from the search keywords stored in the data storage unit, and

the transmitting unit transmits the user information of other user who belongs to one of the communities which is selected by the user to the information terminal.

15. The information processing system according to claim 14, wherein

the type of the relevance is the type of combination of a plurality of search keywords which is entered for one search by the user.

16. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the data acquiring unit acquires a goods selected by the user in a webpage which provides a virtual shop service, as the data,

the community establishing unit establishes a community for users who have selected a same goods, of the goods stored in the data storage unit, and

the transmitting unit transmits the user information of other user who belongs to the community for the users who have selected the same goods to the information terminal.

17. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein

the data acquiring unit acquires a keyword which is contained in an e-mail with at least a predetermined frequency when the user transmits the e-mail, as the data,

the community establishing unit establishes a community for users who have contained a same keyword in an e-mail, of the keywords stored in the data storage unit, and

the transmitting unit transmits the user information of other user who belongs to the community for the users who have contained the same keyword in an e-mail to the information terminal.

18. A server comprising:

a user information storage unit which stores information concerning a user as user information, the user operating an information terminal connected to the server through a network;

a data acquiring unit which acquires the data entered into the information terminal by the user;

a data storage unit which stores the data acquired by the data acquiring unit so as to associate the data with the user information of the user who has entered the data in the data storage unit;

a community establishing unit which establishes, by extracting a plurality of pieces of data having relevance between a plurality of different users from the pieces of data stored in the data storage unit, a community for the users who have entered the extracted pieces of data; and

a transmitting unit which transmits, to the information terminal operated by a user who participates in the community established by the community establishing unit, the user information of the other users who participate in the community.

19. A computer program product, comprising:

a module which stores information concerning a user as user information, the user operating an information terminal connected to the server through a network;

a module which acquires data entered into the information terminal by the user;

a module which stores the data so as to associate the data with the user information of the user who has entered the data;

a module which establishes, by extracting a plurality of pieces of data having relevance between a plurality of different users from the pieces of stored data, a community for the users who have entered the extracted pieces of data; and

a module which transmits, to the information terminal operated by a user who participates in the community, the user information of the other users who participate in the community.

20. A computer readable recording medium which stores the computer program according to claim 19.